By Megan Lally

“To Brooke, image is everything. She works hard to maintain perfect grades, perfect looks, a perfect life—especially after “the incident” that threatened it all. Getting into her dream university puts her that much closer to a fresh start. How can she say no to celebrating with all her classmates? Hanging out with her crush by the bonfire is the perfect end to the night. Except it isn’t the end. An old truck starts aggressively tailing Brooke and her best friend on the isolated road toward home. Someone thinks they know the truth about “the incident,” and they won’t stop until it’s all out in the open. This terrifying drive is about to bring out Brooke’s worst fears…if she survives it.” (Goodreads).

This thriller that I’ve seen referred to as “mean girls on CRACK” definitely seemed like an attempt to reduce every character to a mean girl. I had zero investment in the story because of the complete lack of morals or personality in everyone. That being said, the pacing had me finished with the book before I even registered how much I hated the characters. I originally picked it up because of the familiar Oregon setting, but it was overall a forgettable and formulaic YA thriller.

I rated the plot at a 3 just because of the pacing – I couldn’t tell if I liked how absurdly fast-paced this was or if I wanted it to slow down. By the time I got to the climax, I had to stop and check my clock – I’d only been reading for a little while and I was already so far through the book. I think the pacing worked well for the amount of plot holes in this one – you moved so fast to the action that you barely had time to digest and understand the characters, making it easier for the author to keep the twist a secret to the reader. Regardless, the decisions everyone made and the completely unrealistic stakes and crimes made the story hard to stomach. Also, if you’re going to write the setting as an important part of your plot, at least do it right. There’s a very fast paced and suspenseful car chasing scene towards the end, and it says the cars were going about 90 miles an hour on the Oregon coast highways. Yeah, there’s no way you could possibly go that fast without driving right over a cliff edge. Even speed demons on that highway are stuck going 70 at the most.

The writing style wasn’t bad, it was definitely descriptive. I appreciated how the author was able to keep the dramatic irony high, knowing that the main character knew more than the readers yet her thoughts and first person narration didn’t give the twist away.

These characters could be anybody, but it’s also impossible for them to exist. They were the most basic, cookie-cutter people to ever be written about and frustrating unrealistic at the same time. Every single person was manipulative and capable of very sick action. None of them possessed any morals or empathy for other humans. I wasn’t even sure of the significance of some people. Claire, for example, was a huge character – or at least that’s what we’re told. I honestly wasn’t sure what was so crazy about her and how she had so much power over the main character. The personal relationships throughout the book in general just didn’t make much sense.

If you’re looking for a fast-paced, suspenseful, and entertaining YA thriller, look no further – but if you want something a little more remarkable and with substance, No Place Left to Hide is not for you. The extremely hate-able characters and plot-hole ridden pages are why I give this one a total of two stars.